Transports
essential nutrients to all body parts, transports waste products for disposal
and aids with body temperature regulation.
Water makes up about 60% of an adult’s total body weight. It plays a key role in many body functions such as chemical reactions, body temperature control, blood volume maintenance, lubrication, and protection.
On average, an adult consumes just over two litres of water per day from both eating foods and drinking liquids. Since water is so critical for life’s basic processes, total water intake and output is supremely important.
Water also serves as a solvent and transport medium. Electrolytes are what help distribute and move water throughout the body. Electrolytes are minerals in your body with an electric charge, such as sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium, phosphate, and magnesium
Alcohol
Alcohol is both a beverage providing some sustenance and a drug. For thousands of years, humans have created and consumed alcohol. It is consumed in just about every country and often in excess. Alcohol is a psychoactive drug. A psychoactive drug is any substance that crosses the blood-brain barrier, primarily affecting the functioning of the brain, be it altering mood, thinking, memory, motor control, or behavior.
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Chemical Reactions
Water is required for even the most basic chemical reactions. Water is an ideal medium for chemical reactions as it can store a large amount of heat, is electrically neutral, and has a pH of 7.0, meaning it is not acidic or basic. Additionally, water is involved in many reactions as an agent to break bonds or to form bonds
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Electrolytes
While water makes up the largest percentage of body volume, it is not pure water. Instead, it is a mix of water and cells, proteins, glucose, electrolytes, and other substances. How water moves around within the body is regulated by moving electrolytes in and out of cells. The key electrolytes in the body are sodium, chloride, and potassium.
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Lubrication & Shock Absorption
Water is the main component of the lubricating fluid between joints and eases the movement of bones. The fluid in the eyeball, around the brain, and in the spinal cord is primarily water and buffers these organs against sudden environmental changes. Watery fluids surrounding organs provide both chemical and mechanical protection. Just two weeks after fertilization, water fills the amniotic sac in a pregnant woman providing a cushion of protection for the developing embryo.
Additionally, nasal mucus, also commonly referred to as snot, is also a front-line defence against injury and foreign invaders. It is composed of more than 90% water and helps discharge nasal irritants, lubricate cells in the lungs to enable you to breathe, transports nutrients along the gastrointestinal tract, and aids in eliminating waste materials through the rectum
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Regulation of Temperature
Human life is supported within a narrow range of temperatures. The temperature set point of the body is 98.6°F (37°C). Too low or too high of a temperature causes enzymes and metabolism to halt. Too cold and the muscles fail, and hypothermia sets in. At the opposite extreme, if it’s too hot, the central nervous system fails, and death results. The body has multiple ways to move body water around, distribute or share heat and equalize body temperature. Also, water is good at storing heat, which means that it helps the body maintain temperature despite changes in the surrounding environment; this is how you can stay warm during a snowstorm and cool during hot Arizona summers. Additionally, other methods regulate heat, such as sweating, which releases heat, or shivering, which helps your body generate heat.
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Transportation
Water is called the “universal solvent” because more substances dissolve in it than any other fluid. Molecules dissolve in water because of the hydrogen and oxygen molecules’ ability to loosely bond with other molecules. The solvent action of water allows for substances to be more readily transported. Examples of body fluids containing these solutes include blood, urine, saliva, bile, and pancreatic juice
